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Packaging reforms deferred for a year to October 2025

Packaging reforms deferred for a year to October 2025
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The government said on Tuesday that new rules to ensure businesses and producers pay for the cost of recycling their packaging will be pushed back a year until October 2025 due to the economic pressures faced by consumers and firms.

“We’re determined to transform the way we collect, recycle and reuse our waste materials so we eliminate all avoidable waste by 2050 in a way that works for households and consumers," Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said in a statement.


“We are also listening to industry and ensuring our work to tackle inflation and to drive up recycling go hand in hand, to make sure our reforms will be a success.”

The government said it will use the additional year to continue to discuss the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme’s design with industry and reduce the costs of implementation wherever possible. The decision, taken jointly with the devolved administrations, will also provide industry, local authorities and waste management companies with more time to prepare to ensure the success of the scheme, it added.

Businesses have welcomed the announcement.

“Whilst we remain absolutely committed to a circular economy and support the introduction of EPR, we welcome today’s announcement,” Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said.

“This will provide the necessary time to work across our industry and with [the] government in order to get EPR right first time. This decision is also an important step in minimising further pressure on food inflation and we will continue to focus on delivering the best value to customers in the coming months.”

Paul Vanston, chief executive of the Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN), said: “UK and devolved Ministers are making the right set of decisions at this time to drive forward the shaping of the collections and packaging reforms.

“Ensuring overall systems efficiency, cost-effectiveness and high recycling performance are essentials for the governments and stakeholders to achieve together.”

The EPR scheme is expected to play a central part in delivering the government’s commitments of eliminating avoidable waste by 2050 and recycling 65 per cent of municipal waste by 2035.

This is in addition to the other measures, including the tax on plastic packaging which does not meet a minimum threshold of at least 30 per cent recycled content, which came into force last April, and the upcoming bans on countless single-use plastic items, including cutlery and plates.

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Fed National President Mo Razzaq

Indies: It’s criminal police and government turn blind eye to shoplifting

Independent retailers are demanding tougher police action, more bobbies on the beat and harsher punishments as shoplifting levels reach an all-time high, a new survey reveals.

A whopping ninety-one per cent of respondents to a survey conducted by the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) called for more police patrols on streets, while a similar number - 90 per cent - said that shoplifters should be handed harsher sentences.

Seven out of 10 respondents (72 per cent) said their stores had experienced shoplifting, break ins and damage to property, while they and their staff had been physically or verbally threatened.

Just under half of respondents (47 per cent) said they and their employees had been threatened or had suffered abuse and violence when asking for proof of age ahead of selling an age-restricted product.

Forty-four per cent reported that they and their staff had faced abuse or violence because they had refused to make a proxy sale – selling an age restricted product to a customer buying for a minor.

The results of the Fed’s survey came as new figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed that shoplifting was at a record high, with almost half a million offences recorded last year.

According to the ONS, 469,788 offences were logged by forces in the year to June 2024 – a 29 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

The ONS added that this figure was the highest since records began – in March 2003.

“Inadequate responses from the police and a slap on the wrist for offenders means that shoplifting is soaring, and offenders are becoming more aggressive and brazen,” said Fed National President Mo Razzaq.

“From the responses we received, it is clear that real action is needed by police, by courts and by the government to stem the overwhelming tide of crime against retailers and their staff. Everyone deserves to feel safe at work and for their businesses to be protected against criminals.

“Fed members are also sending a clear message that one of the catalysts for verbal and physical abuse in stores is asking for proof of age before selling an age restricted product. If the government presses ahead with its plans to phase out smoking and vaping through a progressive ban to gradually end the sale of tobacco products across the country, independent retailers will be subject to even greater levels of violence, abuse and theft.”

Calling for action from the government and not just words, Mr Razzaq continued: “Without effective deterrent, criminals and opportunistic members of the public will continue to commit crimes.”

According to Ministry of Justice statistics, during the year to March 2024, 431 fines were handed out for retail theft under £100, while Home Office statistics for the same period show that 2,252 cautions were accepted for shoplifting.

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